


The Ephemera of Viktor Krum

by Testosterone



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Divination, F/M, Herbology
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-24 20:00:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30077556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Testosterone/pseuds/Testosterone
Summary: Scenes and snippets of Viktor Krum's story immediately following The Goblet of Fire.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Viktor Krum
Comments: 8
Kudos: 5





	1. Krum's Room

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Waiting Around](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1925055) by [Drakey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drakey/pseuds/Drakey). 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Viktor Krum has taken the summer off from Team Bulgaria.

Viktor wasn’t sure there was a correct way to care for the flowers Fleur had sent.

They were dying. However, save Viktor, they were the only living thing in the room.

They sat in the glass over the crate. Every other surface in the room? Viktor had built with his father and brother as a child. Before the glass vase sat Viktor's to-do list.

To Do  
Post:  
Hermione ××××  
Harry ×  
Fanmail  
Fleur ××  
~~The Ministry~~  
~~The Team Captain~~  
The Diggorys

Get some Air  
Heal. Grow. Savor.  
Love,  
Viktor.

Viktor had had energy when he wrote the list. For a moment. Where the list said “Air” he had substituted in the appropriate alchemical glyph. By his name he had drawn in a small kitten with a heart-shaped nose that faded from red to pink.

So this was depression. The better part of a pecan biscuit sat on the glass. The greenery from the bouquet, now split between the vase and his favorite gap in a high shelf, was plastered against the glass of the vase. A smell wafted under the door: still raw. Not quite time for dinner. He slowed as he lowered himself to his meditation mat to do some crunches. Weakness wasn’t an option. He had begun to feel this inwardness when his mates had turned toward one another’s jokes that fall at Hogwarts. Still, he was a commandingly bright young wizard with an adventurous and perfect girlfriend who had reminded him that inwardness leads the hand that drives the spiral from ending to ending.

If only he could find the bravery to write back. Three of her letters with clippings, foils, locks and muggle photographs of England lay near the vase.

Harry deserved an owl even more. Holding Harry after they got back to the Champions’ Tent had been more than he had felt in Hermione’s arms since. The pain of things had been almost complete but the younger boy had felt safe in his arms. Harry had seemed a stranger to safety, and Viktor wanted to be with them, but he buckled under his barbell as he remembered Hermione's explanation that he would be either at school or locked away by his guardians for three more years. Writing to Harry would make Viktor feel strong again, and Krum knew for sure that his muscles were his strength were his dance was his music. But all the parchment read was:

Dear Harry,  
I too do not know how to feel well again. Hermione tells to me that you are alone. Can I help you?  
~~She will~~

Viktor had stopped, not to try to write again. Viktor knew that Hermione was a continent away, unable to rescue Harry, unable to bring Cedric back, unable to come live with him and his family anytime soon. Viktor needed help then.

The protection amulet Fleur had sent him twirled from the ceiling. It began to spark and the lights drifted towards Viktor’s reel of parchment. Viktor nodded gratefully at the first stopping point in his training routine.

It was a sign as clear as the truths he grasped towards, written in constellation. The sun was finally exiting Cancer: Hermione’s birthday was exactly one month away.

And he still hadn’t written. Viktor stroked the back of his neck to soothe his frustration. He already knew that things were turning apart with Hermione: she had been reassuringly foreshadowing of the fact. Viktor’s heart said to pull her close, but his heart could barely speak without hurting.

He would be occupied with his work in the fall. He had two more people to take care of now.


	2. The Granger Grange

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hermione sits at her family table and consults her Tarot cards concerning Viktor.

On The Subject of Viktor Krum.

The Empress.  
Hermione drew the first card and placed it in the center of her purple and gold reading cloth. The card of thirds. Hermione was relieved. The sun on The Empress’ back washed away her insecurities. This meant that the two of them would be safe: nothing would escape their keen rulership. As long as they found each witch and wizard who needed them they would open up a new world for their kin to enjoy. In our limited capacity, that is, Hermione thought. She attuned to the kinds of seeming impossibilities of which she was already aware: Viktor was, after all, too old for her.  
Beyond which, there was work to be done even now. Hermione drew the next card.

Nine of Rods  
She placed the nine to the right of the Empress. Well, that was that, Hermione thought, with a sugary lump dissolving in her stomach. This card meant waiting. It was a clear “no,” though not the sort of card to be believed too quickly. She knew quite well that this meant to follow her knowledges, which had already penciled her in for another three to thirty years of playing the old maid. She reached for her tea and sipped. She had used enough lemon after all.

The Sun.  
She placed the sun beneath the center, following a counterclockwise cross layout. It mirrored the work she saw in herself, as the Empress, the way she had imagined: she loved Viktor, even if he was too close to as easy to put down as one of her cards. This position meant home and, oh! She had. She had made a maiden’s life for herself. She put her tea back in its sunny spot by the window. This was the truth she knew, the man she had hoped for.  
The next position was the past, left of the center where the Empress had shown her her present being. It represented the physical, more than the spiritual, home The Sun had sunken into.

The Lovers.  
The Lovers was a favorite card of Hermione’s and she was unfamiliar to be obtuse to it. Hermione had appreciated irony in her youth but her fourth year had worn her down for it. The Lovers represented a choice. She was here alone with her family, as usual, and she could almost see her present refracting… layered onto itself in the card in her hand.  
She had a choice, after all. She could write owl after owl to Viktor and hope that he would feel suitably indulged by her courtship that he could focus on his studies until she became of majority. But this card meant The Lovers in the past, and the negotiation between Viktor and herself was as ever-present as the light of the day.  
It’s not as if she hadn’t had thoughts of other boys, but… she recalibrated. This didn’t look like clever, self-insinuating Ernie MacMillian, didn’t bear the weight of Harry, whom she had of course considered, in a modest way. It reminded her more of the sort of characters she might meet in the library that showed as the Eden she and Viktor had shared. It even, reminded her even of the diary Ginny had used to communicate with Tom Riddle.  
She took a sip of the spicy peppermint beside her and considered the latitude in hopes of understanding. From left to right: The Lovers, The Empress, The Nine of Wands. This seemed to represent the three of them: Harry, herself and Ronald. They were all coming of age, after all. This seemed to imply that one of them had been in love already. Maybe it was her and Viktor, she considered, but then resolved that perhaps Harry was starting to have feelings for someone after all…

Death.  
The top card was Death. She should have expected as much. She shifted back in the chair better suited to her father. Perhaps it was Harry who had fallen in love, and perhaps she hadn’t seen it. Perhaps she never would, now, with so much keeping her from Harry, The Boy Who Lived. She paused to consider Cedric, turned her cup over on its saucer and placed it aside. She sat a moment in prayer before she drew the last card, which she placed below the Sun…

The Moon.  
Hermione’s instinct was to tuck the deck back together. Four Major Arcana cards had been enjoyable, five served only to remind her that duty fell back to her, as this card sank its way back to her person.

There was a distinctive scratching on the glass. Viktor’s owl had arrived! It was a treat to get a letter from Viktor, and this time it had taken him ages to reply: she had seen Errol three times since, twice from Ginny and once from Ron. The small, flat package was Gryffindor red with a golden seal. When she opened it, a collection of exotic flowers with a live honeybee sprang to life as if cupped in his hands. The note beneath the flowers was succinctly written in magical calligraphy. “Petrificus totalus,” Hermione informed the bee, who fell to the table. She admired very much that Viktor had included a tiny bit of honeycomb for it to live on.

My dear Hermione,  
I am wilting upstairs in my room with no one who will speak or listen.  
With every letter you write me, new life wells into my hands as I confirm that you are heard.  
Before Summer ends I will visit one last time before we part on the winding road.  
The bee is enchanted to hear my word and hint what you may need to know for as long as it lives.

Take what there is of my love, this, the year I become a man and be away with it. Let me not regret having never told you how beautiful you looked crossing the lake, one last time, so I know that you remember.  
Your champion,  
Виктор Крум

Hermione revived her bee, which made its way up into her hair. It stayed very close with her for the rest of its long life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> XIII.  
> VI. III. 9R.  
> XIX.  
> XVIII.


	3. Dumbledore's Gardens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luna does some volunteer work with Headmaster Dumbledore

Dumbledore and Luna were out for their morning stroll, as ever. The honeysuckle berries were golden with near-ripeness, just the way Dumbledore liked them. A hummingbird nitpicked at a loose embroidery thread on Luna’s warm-weather robes. She was distracted by the thousands of points of light gleaming off the morning dew. The castle rooftops steamed.  
  
She beamed at Dumbledore and led the way to the lavender patch. She pulled an armful of ripe barleygrass from right to left and followed into the thick of the clover and nettle.  
“Don’t think I would have allowed these mornings to continue on memory of your mother alone, Luna. I sincerely enjoy your company.”  
“Oh, I never doubted you, Professor.” Luna winked. “My off-to-school reading showed The Emperor and the Three of Hearts. Oh, that reminds me, my father told me to tell you to avoid photographers on the last day of the month.”  
“Look, Luna, a Fool’s Butterfly.”  
“Oh, he’s very handsome.” Luna replied. “Reminds me of the one I have back home.   
  
Say, Professor, did McGonagall ever get back to you about lifting the restrictions on common room pets?”  
“They most certainly won’t be lifted entirely,” Dumbledore said. “There’s a fine line between a nargle and a bull trollop.”  
Through the steam and microfleas a familiar face emerged. Firenze.  
“Firenze!” Luna fawned. “Are you safe from the microfleas?” Luna went to embrace him and wipe any microfleas from his back, and she managed a warm pat even with the herbs held in her left arm.  
Dumbledore looked puzzled. “I’m alright, Luna.” He assured. “We use tree bark to keep them off.” Dumbledore winked at him conspiratorally. “I brought mulflowers,” he said shyly, aware that he was making a pattern of inflating his own stock. “And cottonwood pollen.”  
“Why thank you very much, Mr. Firenze,” Luna said youngly.  
Dumbledore interrupted. “The sixth-years made weeping potion last week with Pumona. They experimented with a multi-bark recipe for a more alleviating effect, but no one but Pumona could tolerate the fungal flavor,” Dumbledore winked.  
Firenze winked back, but then he began to look distant and became leery. Dumbledore had no sense of humor or power seeing his friend spook like a horse, and they shared a look that cleared the meat from the table.  
“Tomorrow, Firenze?” Luna called out.  
“Luna!” Firenze sang in answer as he galloped away.  
They steadied for a moment until a wisp in Luna’s neck and a tiny sound behind Luna alerted her.  
Dumbledore was already smiling. Dean Winchester had returned, and he had his broom with him. And a letter.

Headmaster Dumbledore

I have been afraid to go home for weeks. I was attacked in Sofia and then again in Vichy. They may be following me: I keep forgetting things. I didn't know where else to go but here. I need help until I can return to my home.

In peace,  
Viktor Krum


	4. Potter Seeds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Improv artist 1/2: Ok, so for this scene we're going to need a situation and a relationship from the audience.
> 
> (Audience member raises hand.)  
> Audience member: Two scientists working on a time machine.
> 
> Improv artist 2/2: But what's the relationship?
> 
> Audience member: Two scientists, working on a time machine.
> 
> Improv artist 2/2: I don't see the relationship.

Dear Viktor, Hey!  
I simply loved meeting you. Thank you so much for giving Hermione and I the best year we have had since we arrived. I am a fan of your broomwork and hope to someday follow your lead. I know you get other mail from fans but I hope you remember me especially as a friend and admirer.  
What can we do to heal? I would love to accept your invitation to get together and fly, but I am not allowed to visit friends during the Summer. Without exception.  
I'm immensely impressed to hear that you will be going to work for the Ministry. I have considered this type of work as well, though I sometimes think I would prefer working at a candy shop or a muggle café. It can be difficult, living with my aunt and uncle, and I have grown to enjoy doing the cooking while I’m here. A little extra sugar can put a grown man to sleep for hours, and is enough to derail the attention span of an adult woman.  
Perhaps my home life would be a good topic for a letter with Hermione.  
When does the struggle for control become a problem? I have been told it is a mistake to try and control people. What if they are trying to control me? My aunt is so mean that some days I wonder what hex I wouldn’t use to keep myself safe.  
I suppose I trust you very much to have told you this. I don’t need rescuing. Hogwarts and [here the ink runs into a pool] the Weasleys will tend to that.  
If you know any good spells for freeing prisoners (who are really innocent,) I wouldn’t say no to help.  
I am joking.  
Tell me about yourself. Do you like to go horseback riding at sunset?  
To be honest I do not know what to do to feel better about Cedric. I don’t even get out of bed if I don’t have to. I am champion of my pillow.

I don’t like to sound pathetic but I have. Please excuse me.  
Your friend,  
Harry

Dear Harry,  
Hermione tells me that you are alone. Can I help? I would like to write to you if you need a friend.  
My friend tells me that I have everything because I am successful at eight-teen. I do not own a horse. He is a pegasus and he grows his own carrots. He has enchanted the carrots to ask for better rights as workers and to sing harmony about the need to communicate well and to speak about love. When I ask if they want to be freed from the Earth, they ask about the system of representatives in my kitchen. I have my fairy gardeners explain to them, I mean, that is what my servants tell me.  
Why do you not speak of your aunt and how you live in interviews? There are witches who wouldwant to have you stay with them, even here in Bulgaria. You should not be shy to need help. You should not be shy at all. If someone asks you if you are doing well, be brave! Tell the truth that you are a good man. There is no health to being shy.  
I do not surely understand why you do not free yourself, but I know you have answered that to yourself.  
No, I do understand. You have been a child and you do not need to feel stupid to need help. Soon you will live on your own and you will plant carrots to take care of your potatos. I will see what I can do about your family, but I may not be able to come help you myself. I will not forget that you are there.  
Is anyone able to visit you? A neighbor?  
How do you help yourself? What can I send to help?  
Here are some seeds that you can plant in a muggle house. Do not be afraid to write to me. And remember to sing with your plants. They like music with four parts.  
Say something to make your pillow happy for me.  
Also your friend,  
Виктор Крум

Луннавода  
2 cups of sugar  
1 cup of water  
Make сироп and mix color in. Use red for energy. Do not use lemon or other ingredients.  
Cover with paper. Make circles through the paper with a pencil.  
Make circles with a pencil in another paper and cover the cup. Again. Fold the paper into a ball to leave air.  
Bury the cup in moonlight.  
Use on paper or plates.  
Protects from others.

Seeds  
Orange  
Lavender  
Aloe Cabbage  
Elder


	5. The Second Residency of Viktor Krum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The complete file on Viktor Krum's second residency as compiled by Irma Pince

Grounds Residency  
Name: Viktor Krum  
Species: Wizard  
Designation: Greenhouse 3, Room 3  
Date In: July 18th, 1995  
Date Out: July 30th, 1995  
Contraband: Protection charms, Dragon-leather boots  
Notes: No visitors, No contact  
Notary: Pince  
Identifier: Pince

Witness 1  
Resident Name: Viktor Krum  
Requested by: Firenze, Albus Dumbledore  
Witness Name: Irma Pince  
Entrance Account:  
Krum complains that he has been blackmailed, stalked, subjected to interference (memory inc. whereabouts, fundamentals of apparition.) Says he has no where to be safe. I met with his family and with Triwizarding Champion Fleur Delacour and they report no attrition. No history of attrition of applicant excluding cursed behavior under Imperius Curse last season. Behavior reported normal, categorical impairment at question. We plan to address the case thoroughly and succinctly.  
Has been stalked and harassed since beginning to apparate in Sofia, Rome, London. Probably Confounded in Sofia though I assess the memory as false, potentially. Came into contact with conglomeration of dark wizards in Rome, this seems to be the source of… confusion, impairment to seek help. Due to blackmail. And mistreatment. No physical or other manifestations. High priority supervision will commence now by myself, Pumona, The Headmaster. Start investigative compilation: Pince. (Primary source: Pince.)  
Witness 2  
Resident Name: Viktor Krum  
Requested by: Firenze, self  
Witness Name: Albus Dumbledore  
Entrance account:  
Will begin memory work with Viktor immediately. Then proceed to garden by night for purification. Will work in memory throughout

Grounds Residency  
Name: Viktor Krum  
Species: Wizard  
Designation: Greenhouse 3, Room 3  
Date In: July 18th, 1995  
Date Out: July 30th, 1995  
Contraband: Protection charms, Dragon-leather boots  
Notes: Operably recuperated  
Notary: Pince  
Identifier: McLaggen

Witness  
Resident name: Viktor Krum  
Requested by: Resident  
Witness name: Albus Dumbledore  
Exit account: Viktor seems to understand the need to feel comfortable with his family again. Time on his own has done him well. I asked him to be sure he spent time on his own and with his family.

Equipment checkout  
Name: Viktor Krum  
Date: July 18th, 1995  
Bed Set  
Basic student clothing voucher  
Robes: Maroon (3)  
Spade #14/54  
Tarot Deck #10  
Stationary Set  
Library Pass  
Due Date: August 18th, 1995

Day Use Equipment Checkout:  
July 19th, 1995  
Name: Viktor Krum  
Golden Snitch #1

Day Use Equipment Checkout:  
July 21th, 1995  
Name: Viktor Krum  
Golden Snitch #1

Owl Request  
Name: Viktor Krum  
Date: July 22nd, 1995  
Recipient: Hermione Granger, The Krum Family  
Weight: 1 oz, 1 oz

Day Use Equipment Checkout:  
July 27th, 1995  
Name: Viktor Krum  
Golden Snitch #1

Day Use Equipment Checkout:  
July 28th, 1995  
Name: Viktor Krum, Cormack McLaggen  
Quidditch Pitch  
Quaffle #735  
Golden Snitch #1

Gardenlogue 1995  
Date: July 30th  
Section: Greenhouses  
Additions:  
Pollen Samples. Summer 1995. Krum.  
Greenhouse 3. Krum 1  
Seed Samples. Summer 1995. Krum.  
Greenhouse 3: Krum 1  
Greenhouse Inventories. 1995. Krum.  
Greenhouse 3: Planters 1, 77-78, 87-88, 101-105  
Habitat Inventories. 1995. Krum.  
I battled pests including gnomes, moles and doxies. Released rabbits from traps.  
Blackberries need continued transfiguration at Dumbledore’s garden. Slytherin Stream North Fork about 1.4 miles. Mostly small rocks and very large rocks. Fish, small birds. Animals. Streamflow about 39 cu. ft./s 1 mile from castle, 1.26 1.5 miles from castle.  
Slytherin Stream South Fork about 1.2 miles. Needs more shade or very large rocks at about 0.6 miles. Hummingbirds. About 36 cu. ft./s 1 mile from castle, 1.26 1.5 miles from castle

Gardenlogue 1995  
Date: July 18th  
Section: Forbidden Forest

Dumbledore clears the area. He uses a cedar brush to do so. Viktor has eaten a fasting meal of crême brûlee prepared by Fleur Delacour in France. They have prepared. Dumbledore will have prepared a fire. They will walk the circle widdershins three times until Dumbledore will confront Krum. They will bless one another normally and without discourse.  
Mr. Viktor Krum: A blessing to his god of choice  
Headmaster Albus Dumbledore: A prepared blessing of purification.  
They will proceed South, around and back again.

Krum will eat a meal prepared by Professor Pumona Sprout and return to Hogwarts expressly. He will remain under Pumona Sprout’s care until such a time that we may presume him available.


End file.
